Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-08-04
EXCITING BEAR HUNT.
A Man, . Grizzly snd . Rattlesaake at ths
bottom Of . Big Hsle.

A Man, Grizzly s.d . Rattlesaaks as tAs
! bottom Of . Big Hsle.
] One-eyed Zeke. who hunts for liv.
ing around Owen lake and along Owen
river over in Inyo. came in the other
day to be doctored for q sprained ankles
Spraining that ankle saved his life on
this last trip. Zeke has . scheme Of
his own for killing grizzlies that is
very effective if . man has nerve
enough to work it and his gun doesn't
miss fire. He carries heavy double
barreled shotgun and . 44-caliber re-
volver, but never Tugs a rife even
wheE he goes after bears. When he
sights grizzly he pops at him with tho
revolver and gets him mad, standing
in che open where the bear can see
him, and shooting often enough to dis
pei any possible doubts in the bears
Roddle about the annoyance.
A grizzly will 60 his own way usvnl-
~ if not interfcrcd with, but if insuGed
with pistol-shots he is pretty certain to
make disturbance of the peace. The
exasperated bear snaps viciously1t the
place where the pistoikall strikes him,
concludes that Zeke is responsible for
the trouble and goes tor him. Zeke
waits calmly with dot BILE load If heavy
shot in each barrel and the hammers
at full cock. Caleb comes right up to
him, and when almost withir hugging
distance uiises on his hind legs to throw
himself upon Zeke. Then zeke turns
loose both barrels Ro the bears chest,
and blows hole as big ss two fists
nearly through him. The heavy charge
a. sach close range smashes the griz-
ziy's interior works in E dcplorable
manner, and he dies right away. 1t
Is far more effective than an express
rifle-bullet But it requires nerve to
face e big. ugly bear and reserve fire
until he is within half dozen feet OF
the gun.
Zeke meta bear in the mountains
near Owen lake and played his cus-
soMary game, but not with complete
SUCCESS. By some extraordinary bad
luck, both cartridges in his gun had
defective primers, and when he pulled
the triggers he was very much puzzled
and disappointed by the absence of the
usual loud report. 1t was critical
moment for .Zeke. 1t took him the
shousandth part of second to grasp
the situation and spring desperately to
the right. Another small traction of a
second was consumed in his unexpect-
ed descent to the bottom of an odd
prospect hole that was overgrown with
brush and escaped his notice.
Probably that is the only prospect
hole in that part of the Sierra Nevada,
and lit must have been dug by some
half cracked Forty-niner like Marshall
who prospected all the way from Yuma
to the Columbia. Zeke vows it was
dug by Providence.
The sudden and unaccountable dis
of the old man with a gun
the bear, and he had thrown
himself forward and plunged into the
several yards before he be-
gan TO catch on to the fact that Zeke
was not before him. As soon as Zeke
struck bottom he looked up to see If
the bear was coming down. too, and
then he removed the bad cartridges
and quickly inserted two mere in his
gun He knew the bear would smell
him out very soon.
in half a minute CalebS wicked
:snout appeared at the top of ihe hole.
1t disappeared, and was at once re-
placed by the bears hind legs. Caleb
was coming down stern foremost after
the !noxious person who had fired bull
lets at him. As the bear scrambled
down Zehe aimed just under mis- shout
der and sent two handfuls of 5uckshot
through his vitals i'm dag
0nal line. The wound was almost in
stsntly fatal, and the bear came down
IN a heap at the bottom of the hole,
which was about ten or twelve feet
deep.
nhe excitement being over. Zeke
that he had been injured in the
fall. and Understanding up was painful.
He SAT- down on the bear t0west and
reflect, and to induce reflection he took
out his pipe and lighted it. The flare
Hf the match lighted up the prospect
hole. md .Zekewas interested in seeing
a good-sized .rattiesnake lying dead I'M
der his feet. its head crushed ,5y his
lsaot-heel. He had landed on the snake
when he fell into the hole, and the
slipping q his foot had sprained his
anssle.
Zeke had a hard time climbing out
of lhe prospect hole and gettinglback
to camp. ibrt he got there. and sent
some men mp to hoist the besr.to the
surface The grizzly's weight was .es-
to he nine hundred pounds.
Zeke says he ,doesnS care ahoutlthe
spraiu. because if has foot had n0t
landed Just in shat spot he would have
had none company than he would have
cared to entertain at the bottom of q !
proSpaof Ss.olo -Cnlseysf> /C1I Coz n